Top of pageAcute Hospitals - Public, Department of Veterans Affairs (repatriation) and private hospitals which provide services primarily to admitted patients with acute or temporary ailments. The average length of stay is relatively short

Addiction/addictive use - A condition marked by repeated and compulsive activity in a manner or at a level that is harmful or dangerous. Term is most often applied to addictive drug use, such as with alcohol, tobacco or other drugs, but could be applied to gambling or many other practices

Additional Estimates - Where amounts appropriated at Budget time are insufficient, Parliament may appropriate more funds to portfolios through the Additional Estimates Acts. (i.e. Appropriation Acts 3 and 4)

Adverse Event - An incident in which harm resulted to a person receiving health care

Adverse Reaction - An adverse event where the correct process was followed for the context in which the event occurred but unexpected and unpreventable harm resulted.

AE - Additional Estimates

AEIFRS - Australian Equivalents of International Financial Reporting Standards

AERF - Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation

AFAO - Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations

Top of pageAdministered items - Expenses, revenues, assets or liabilities that agencies administer on behalf of the Commonwealth. Administered expenses include grants, subsidies and benefits. Funds which are spent on behalf of the Government according to Government direction (for example, funding for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme)

Administrative data - Data that are routinely collected in the course of general administration. Includes data from the Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages and hospital morbidity data

AGIMIS - Australian Government Indigenous Management Information System

AGPAL - Australian General Practice Accreditation Ltd

AGPN - Australian General Practice Network

AGPS - Australian Government Publishing Service (defunct)

AGPT - Australian General Practice Training

AGS - Australian Government Solicitor

AGS No. - Australian Government Service Number (your personal identifier)

Top of pageAge Standardisation - A method of removing the influence of age when comparing populations with different age structures. This is usually necessary because the rates of many diseases vary strongly (usually increasing) with age. The age structures of the different populations are converted to the same standard structure, then the disease rates that would have occurred with that structure are calculated and compared

Top of pageAIRWG - Attendance Item Restructure Working Group (re: the 7-tier MBS structure)

AIS - Abbreviated Injury Scale

AISC - Accreditation Interim Steering Committee

AIWG - Aboriginal and Islander Working Group

ALGA - Australian Local Government Association

ALO – Aboriginal Liaison Officer

ALOS - Average Length of Stay

ALRC- Australian Law Reform Commission

ALS – Aboriginal Legal Service

Alzheimer’s disease - A disease (named after a German physician) in which there is progressive loss of brainpower shown by worsening short-term memory, confusion and disorientation. A form of dementia

AMA - Australian Medical Association

AMAC - Australian Medical Association, Queensland

AMACom - AMA Commercial Ltd

AMARRG - AMA Rural Reference Group

Ambulatory Care - Care provided to hospital patients who are not admitted to the hospital, such as patients of emergency departments and outpatient clinics. The term is also used to refer to care provided to patients of community-based (non-hospital) health care services

Top of pageANCARD - Australian National Council on AIDS and Related Diseases (now ANCAHRD)

ANCAHRD - Australian National Council on AIDS, Hepatitis C and RelatedDiseases

ANCD - Australian National Council on Drugs

AN-DRG - Australian National Diagnosis Related Group

ANET - AFAO/NAPWA Education Team

ANCAHRD - Australian National Council for AIDS, Hepatitis C and Related Diseases

ANF - Australian Nursing Federation

ANGOSA - Association of Non Government Organisations of South Australia

ANHECA - Australian Nursing Home and Extended Care Association

AN-SNAP - Australian National Sub-Acute and Non-Acute Patient

ANTaR - Australians for Native Title and Recognition

ANZCA - Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists

ANZCMHN - Australian and New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses

Top of pageAnxiety disorders - A group of mental disorders marked by excessive feelings of apprehension, worry, nervousness and stress. Includes panic disorder, various phobias, generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder

Top of pageArthritis - A group of disorders in which there is inflammation of the joints, which can become stiff, painful, swollen or deformed. The two main types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis

ASSERT - Australian Society for Sex Educators, Researchers and Therapists

ASSID - Australian Society for the Study of Intellectual Disability SA

Top of pageAsthma - An inflammatory disease of the air passages that makes them prone to narrow too easily and too much, causing episodes of shortness of breath and wheezing or coughing. The narrowing is due to many triggers which include the house dust mite, exercise, pollens, cold weather, throat and chest infections, tobacco smoke and other factors

Benchmark - A standard or point of reference for measuring quality or performance. See also benchmarking

Benchmarking - A continuous process of measuring quality or performance against the highest standards. See also benchmark

Benefits realisation - A program or activity that shows how to convert benefits into practice.

BFV - Barmah Forest virus

BG - Business Group

BHC - Business Management Committee

BHGPC - Balmain Hospital General Practice Casualty

BI - Business Intelligence

BIITE - Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education

BINSA - Brain Injury Network of South Australia

BIP - Business Implementation Plan

Blame - To hold at fault (implies culpability)

BMA - British Medical Association

Top of pageBipolar affective disorder - A mental disorder where the person may be depressed at one time and manic at another. Formerly known as manic depression

Blood cholesterol - Fatty substance produced by the liver and carried by the blood to supply the rest of the body. Its natural function is to supply material for cell walls and for steroid hormones, but if levels in the blood become too high this can lead to atherosclerosis and heart disease

Blood Group - Complex chemical substances found on or in the surface of red cells that distinguish each blood group

Top of pageBody mass index (BMI) - The most commonly used method of assessing whether a person is normal weight, underweight, overweight or obese. Calculated by dividing the persons weight (in kilograms) by their height (in metres) squared. Also known as Quetelet’s Index. For both men and women, underweight is a BMI below 18.5, acceptable weight is from 18.5 to less than 25, overweight is 25 and above but less than 30, and obese is 30 and over

Top of pageCANARIE - Canadian Advanced Network and Research for Industry and Education

Cancer - A range of diseases where some of the body’s cells begin to multiply out of control, can invade and damage the area around them, and can also spread to other parts of the body to cause further damage

CAP - Crisis Accommodation Program

CAP - Conditional Adjustment Payment

CAPAM - Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management

Casemix - The range and types of patients (the mix of cases) treated by a hospital or other health service. This provides a way of describing and comparing hospitals and other services for planning and managing health care. Casemix classifications put patients into manageable numbers of groups with similar conditions that use similar healthcare resources, so that the activity and cost-efficiency of different hospitals can be compared

Top of pageCause of death - From information reported on the medical certificate of cause of death, each death assigned an underlying cause of death according to rules and conventions of the 9th or 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases. The underlying cause is defined as the disease which initiated the train of events leading directly to death. Deaths from injury or poisoning are classified according to the circumstances of the violence which produced the fatal injury, rather than to the nature of the injury

Top of pageCensus - A census is a count of a whole population. The Census of Population and Housing measures the number of people in Australia and their key characteristics, at a given point in time. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) conducts the Census every five years, the last was inAugust 2001

CEO - Chief Executive Officer

CER - Charge Exempt Resident

CES - Charge Exempt Supplement/Subsidy

CEWT - Carer Education and Workforce Training

CF - Complement fixation

CFA - Continence Foundation of Australia

CFO - Chief Financial Officer

CFROG - Commonwealth Food Regulation Officials Group

CGC - Commonwealth Grants Commission

CGHFBC - Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer

CGI-I - Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement

CGI-S - Clinical Global Impressions-Severity of Illness

CGPIS - Centre for General Practice Integration Studies (UNSW)

CHA - Catholic Health Australia

CHAP - Comprehensive Health Assessment Program

CHASP - Community Health Accreditation and Standards Program

CHASP - Community Health Accreditation and Standards Program

CHC - COAG Health Council (formerly SCoH)

CHETRE - Centre for Health Equity, Training Research and Evaluation

CHF - Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia

Change management - The process of developing a planned approach to change in an organisation. The objective is to make the best of the shared efforts of all people involved in the change.

CHID - Community Health Information Development Project

Top of pageChief Executive Instructions (CEIs) - Instructions issued by the Chief Executive Officer. They outline the mandatory requirements within which all Departmental officials must work. The CEIs carry the force of the law and officials must comply with them

CHIM - Community Health Information Model

CHIME - Community Health Information Management Enterprise

CHINS - Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs Survey

CHIP - Community Housing and Infrastructure Program - transferred to FACS on 1 July 2004

CHIP - Child and Youth Health Intergovernmental Partnership

CHIPS - Commonwealth Hostel Information and Payments System

CHIS - Community Health Information System

CHP - Community Health Program

CHPE - Centre for Health Program Evaluation

CHRIS - Cheque Reconciliation and Information Service

CHROMES - Chromosome Handicapped Research Organisation for Medicine Education and Support

Chronic diseases - Term applied to a diverse group of diseases, such as heart disease, cancer and arthritis (to name a few), that tend to be long-lasting and persistent in their symptoms or development. Although these features also apply to some communicable diseases (infections), the general term chronic diseases is usually confined to noncommunicable diseases

CHS - Community Health Service

CHSRF - Canadian Health Services Research Foundation

CHW - Community Health Worker

CI - Confidence Intervals

CIARR - Client Information Assessment and Referral Record

CIB - Current Issue Brief

CIHR - Canadian Institutes of Health Research

CIJIG - Commonwealth Interdepartmental JETACAR Implementation Group

CIMC - Cardiac Imaging Management Committee

CIPs- Community Initiatives Projects

CIPs - Continuous Improvement Projects

Circumstance - All the factors connected with or influencing an event, agent or person/s

CISP - Carer Information & Support Program

CITEC - Company taken over DOFA payment processing and reporting from 1/7/99

Departmental outputs - Four common 'departmental' outputs are reported for each of the ten output groups. Broadly, these outputs are the direct product of the policy, management and administrative functions of DoHA.

Depression - A mood disorder with prolonged feelings of being sad, hopeless, low and inadequate, with a loss of interest or pleasure in activities and often with suicidal thoughts or self-blame.

Dep Sec - Deputy Secretary

DEST - former Department of Education, Science and Training

DETYA - former Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (later name DEST)

DEWHA - Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (December 2007-)

DHSH - Department of Human Services and Health (former name of this Department)

DI - Diagnostic Imaging

DIA - Drug Information Association

Diagnosis - A decision based on the recognition of clinically relevant symptomatology, the consideration of causes that may exclude a diagnosis of another condition, and the application of clinical judgment.

DIBP - Department of Immigration and Border Protection

DIMA - former Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

DIMIA - former Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs

Direct bill - The process by which a medical practitioner or optometrist sends the bill for services direct to Medicare, often referred to as bulk billing.

DIRKS - Designing and Implementing a RecordKeeping System

Disability - A concept of several dimensions relating to an impairment in body structure or function, a limitation in activities (such as mobility and communication), a restriction in participation (involvement in life situations such as work, social interaction and education), and the affected person’s physical and social environment.

Discrete Indigenous community - A geographical location with a physical or legal boundary that is inhabited or intended to be inhabited predominantly (more than 50%) by Indigenous people, with housing and infrastructure that is either owned or managed on a community basis.

DRGs (diagnosis related groups) - A widely used type of casemix classification system. In the case of Australian acute hospitals, AN-DRGs (Australian National Diagnosis Related Groups) classify admissions into groups with similar clinical conditions (related diagnoses) and similar resource usage. This allows the activity and performance of hospitals to be compared on a common basis. See also casemix.

Effectiveness - The extent to which actual outcomes are achieved, in terms of the planned outcomes, via relevant outputs or administered expenses. An intervention's effectiveness should be distinguished from its efficiency, which concerns the adequacy of its administration.

EFTPOS - Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale

EHC - Eye Health Coordinator

EHR - Electronic health record

EIA - Enzyme immunoassay

EIS - Ethical Issue Scale

EL - Executive Level

Electronic messaging - The use of computers to send, receive and process emails and other information.

EM - E-mail

EMA - Emergency Management Australia

Employed Person - A person aged 15 years or more who, during the reference week of the labour force survey, worked for one hour or more for pay, profit or commission.

Estimated Resident Population - Australia’s population statistics are compiled by the ABS according to the place of usual residence of the population. Usual residence is defined as the place where a person has lived or intends to live for a period of 6 months or more.

F

FaCSIA - Department of Family, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

FaCS - Department of Family and Community Services

FAD - Family Assessment Device

FAG - Federal Assistance Grants

FaHCSIA - former Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs)

FAIRA - Foundation of Aboriginal and Islander Research Action

FAP - familial adenomatous polyposis

FAS - First Assistant Secretary (also known as Division Head)

FASA - Funding and Service Agreement

FASSTT - Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma

FA&T or FAT - Function Activity & Transactions

FAYS - Family and Youth Services

FBT - Fringe Benefits Tax

FCEO - Finance Chief Executive Officer

FCTC - Framework Convention for Tobacco Control

FDR - Fund Debit Requester

FECCA - Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia

FINEST - Financial Efficiency and Strategic Planning System

Financial Management and Accountability Act - This is the principal legislation governing the proper use of public money, public property and other Commonwealth resources. It is one of three pieces of legislation, which replaced the Audit Act 1901. The other two pieces of legislation are the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act and the Auditor-General Act.

Freestanding Day Hospital Facility - A private hospital where only minor operations and other procedures not requiring overnight stay are performed, not forming part of any private hospital providing overnight care.

FRLI - Federal Register of Legislative Instruments

FRO - Faculty of Radiation Oncology

FRSC - Food Regulation Standing Committee

FSANZ -Food Standards Australia New Zealand

FTA - Free Trade Agreement

FTA-ABS - Fluorescent treponemal antibody absorbed

FTE - Full Time Equivalent

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) - A standardised measure used in converting number of persons in part-time employment to number of persons in full-time employment.

Full-time/Part-time workers - Full-time workers are those who work 35 or more hours per week; part-time workers work between one and 35 hours per week.

GPIHSP - General Practice Indigenous Health Improvement Support Program

GPII - General Practice Immunisation Incentive

GPLO - General Practice Liaison Officer

GPPHCNT - General Practice and Primary Health Care Northern Territory

GPOG - General Practice Ordering Guidelines (QUPC Subcommittee)

GPPAC - General Practice Partnership Advisory Council

Top of pageGP PACE - General Practitioners as Health Planners, Advocates & Community Educators

GPQ - General Practice Queensland

GPR - General Practice Registrar

GPRA - General Practice Registrars Australia Ltd.

GPRED - General Practice Research, Evaluation and Development

GPRG - General Practice Reference Group

GPRIP - General Practice Rural Incentives Program

GPRLO - GP Registrar Liaison Officer

GPRN - General Practice Research Network

GPRRP - General Practice Rural and Remote Program

GPRTF - General Practice Remuneration Task Force

GPS - General Practice Strategy

GPS - Global Positioning System

GPSA - General Practice Society of Australia

Top of pageGPSCU - General Practice Statistics and Classification Unit (University of Sydney)

GPSLO - GP Supervisor Liaison Officer

GPSR - General Practice Strategy Review

GPSRG - General Practice Strategy Review Group

GPTR - General Practice Training Review

GPWG - General Practice Working Group

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - A statistic commonly used to indicate national wealth. It is the total market value of goods and services produced within a given period after deducting the cost of goods and services used up in the process of production but
before deducting allowances for the consumption of fixed capital.

Health - A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity

Health Care - Services provided to individuals or communities to promote, maintain, monitor, or restore health. Health care is not limited to medical care and includes self-care.

Health Care Card - These cards provide for medical and/or related services free of charge or at reduced rates to recipients of Commonwealth government pensions or benefits.

Health care outcome - The health status of an individual, a group of people or a population which is wholly or partially attributable to an action, agent or circumstance

Top of pageHealthcare provider - Health professional or health organisation involved in supplying health services.

HealthConnect - This is a network of electronic health records that aims to improve the flow of information across the Australian health sector.

Health informatics - The application of information technology to healthcare.

Health Promotion - Activities to improve health and prevent disease.

Health Status - An individual’s or population’s overall level of health, taking account of various aspects such as life expectancy, amount of disability, levels of disease risk factors and so forth.

HEALY - Health Adjusted Life Year

Heart attack - Life threatening emergency that occurs when a vessel supplying blood to the heart muscle is suddenly blocked completely by a blood clot. The medical term commonly used for a heart attack is myocardial infarction.

HECS - Higher Education Contribution Scheme

HELP - Higher Education Loan Programme

Hepatitis - Inflammation of the liver, which can be due to certain viral infections, alcohol excess or a range of other causes.

HFS - Department of Health and Family Services (former name this Department)

HHF - Health and Hospitals fund

HHLGCS - Department of Health, Housing, Local Government and Community Services (former name this Department

HHSC - Hospitals and Health Services Commission

Hib - Haemophilus Influenzae type B

HIC - Health Insurance Commission (now Medicare Australia)

HICOA - Health Injury Council of Australia

HIDC - Health Industry Development Centre

High level residential aged care - Residential aged care services delivered to residents with high levels of dependency. These are approximately equivalent to the services delivered by nursing homes in the past.

Highly specialised drugs - Under Section 100 of the National Health Act, certain drugs (for example, Cyclosporin) can only be supplied to community patients through hospitals because the hospitals can provide the facilities or staff necessary for the appropriate use of the drugs. These drugs are funded by the Commonwealth separately from the PBS.

HIM - Health Information Management/Manager

HIMAA - Health Information Management Association of Australia

Top of pageHIPP - Health Infrastructure Priority Projects Plan under CHIP in ATSIC

Hodgkin’s disease (Hodgkin’s lymphoma) - A cancer marked by progressive painless enlargement of lymph nodes throughout the body. A form of lymphoma.

Hospitalisation - The term used to refer to the episode of care, which can be a total hospital stay (from admission to discharge, transfer or death), or a portion of a hospital stay beginning and ending in a change of type of care (for example, from acute to rehabilitation).

HOOP - Health Outcome-Oriented Problem

HOOPS - Health Outcome-Oriented Problem Segmentation

Top of pageHOP - Home Ownership Program - now run by Indigenous Business Australia

Hostel - Establishment for people who cannot live independently but who do not need nursing care in a hospital or nursing home. Hostels provide board, lodging or accommodation and cater mostly for the aged, distressed or disabled. Residents are generally responsible for their own provisions but may be given domestic assistance such as help with meals, laundry and personal care.

Illicit drugs - Refers to a variety of substances that are either illegal to possess, or legally available, but used inappropriately. In the 2001 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, the term ‘illicit drugs’ included marijuana/cannabis, pain-killers/analgesics, tranquillisers/sleeping pills, steroids, barbiturates, inhalents, heroin, methadone, other opiates, amphetamines, cocaine, hallucinogens, ecstasy/designer drugs, and injected drugs.

Impairment - Any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function.

IMS - Information Management Services

IMSG - Information Management Strategy Group

IMVS - Institute of Medical & Veterinary Science (Adelaide)

IMWP - Information Management Working Party

Incidence - The number of new cases (of an illness or event etc.) occurring during a given period. Compare with prevalence.

Incident - An event or circumstance which could have resulted, or did result, in unintended or unnecessary harm to a person and/or a complaint, loss or damage

Indemnity - A legally binding promise whereby one party undertakes to accept the risk of loss or damage another may suffer.

Indicator (Health indicator) - A key statistic that indicates an aspect of population health status, health determinants, interventions, services or outcomes. Indicators are designed to help assess progress and performance, as a guide to decision making. They may have an indirect meaning as well as a direct one; for example, Australia’s overall death rate is a direct measure of mortality but is often used as a major indicator of population health.

Indigenous - A person who identifies himself or herself as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin and is accepted as such by the community in which he or she lives. (The ‘Commonwealth Definition’ given in High Court Judgement 1983).

Infants - Children aged less than 1 year.

Inflammation - Local response to injury or infection, marked by local redness, heat, swelling and pain. Can also occur when there is no clear external cause and the body reacts against itself, as in the auto-immune disorders.

Information management - The process of defining, evaluating, protecting and distributing data within an organisation, and the technology used to send data to other organisations.

Informed consent - Permission granted by an individual to use their health information for a specific purpose, with an understanding of what they are agreeing to.

Intellectual Property - Intellectual Property is a right which may, for example, enable the use of material which is subject to copyright, or patented invention, or computer software developed by Commonwealth employees in the course of their duty, consultants or contractors engaged to provide a specific service or product. Often such rights have considerable value. It is important, the Department ensures that the Commonwealth's rights are properly protected and that any financial benefit arising from these developments is optimised for the benefit of the Commonwealth.

International Classification of Diseases - The World Health Organization’s internationally accepted classification of death and disease. The 10th Revision (ICD-10) is currently in use. In this report, causes of death classified before 1979 under previous revisions have been reclassified to ICD-10 by the AIHW.

Length of stay - Duration of hospital stay, calculated by subtracting the date the patient is admitted from the day of separation. All leave days, including the day the patient went on leave, are excluded. A same-day patient is allocated a length of stay of 1 day.

LCC - Licensed Collection Centre

LF - Loan Fund

LFHC - Leave for Higher Care

LGA - Local Government Area

LHNs - Local Hospital Networks

Top of pageLiability - Responsibility for an action according to the law or in a legal sense

LIFE - Living is for Everyone

Life expectancy - An indication of how long a person can expect to live. Technically it is the number of years of life remaining to a person at a particular age if death rates do not change.

MALSSA - Multicultural Practice and National Disability Service Standards

Mammogram - X-ray of the breast. May be used to assess a breast lump or as a screening test in women with no evidence of cancer.

Mania - A mental disorder where the person is overexcited, overactive and excessively and unrealistically happy and expansive. It is the opposite of depression and can alternate with it in the same person in what is known as bipolar affective disorder (formerly known as manic depression).

Measles - A highly contagious infection, usually of children, that causes flu-like symptoms, fever, a typical rash and sometimes serious secondary problems such as brain damage. Preventable by vaccine.

Medicare - A national, government-funded scheme that subsidises the cost of personal medical services, and that covers all Australians to help them afford medical care.

Medicare online claiming (formerly HIC online) - an optional online claiming service using the Internet, where a Medicare claim for either a bulk billed or a patient billed service is lodged at the doctor's practice, and the Medicare benefit is paid to the doctor (for bulk billing) or, for patient billing, is paid directly into the patient's bank account or paid via cheque in the doctor's name, sent to the patient by mail, to then be forwarded to the doctor by the patient, in person or by mail.

Medications - Pharmaceutical drugs available only on the prescription of a registered medical practitioner and available only from pharmacies.

MEDIC-GP - Medical Enquiry Drug Information Centre-General Practice

Medsafe - New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority

Melanoma - A cancer of the body’s cells that contain pigment (melanin), mainly affecting the skin.

Meningitis - Inflammation of the brain’s covering (the meninges), as can occur with some viral or bacterial infections.

Mental Disorders - Disturbances of mood or thought that can affect behaviour and distress the person or those around them, so the person cannot function normally. Includes anxiety disorders, depression and schizophrenia.

National Health Priority Areas (NHPA) - The NHPA initiative is a collaborative effort involving the Commonwealth Government and State and Territory Governments that seeks to focus public attention and health policy on those areas that are considered to contribute significantly to the burden of illness in the community, and for which there is potential for health gain.

NATSEM - National Centre for Social and Economic Modeling

NATSI Working Party - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Working Party

NATSIHC - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council

Negligence (civil or criminal) - An incident causing harm, damage or loss as the result of doing something wrong or failing to provide a reasonable level of care in a circumstance in which one has a duty of care

Neurosis / Neurotic disorders - A broad category of mental disorders with anxiety as their main feature and whose symptoms are mostly exaggerations of normal emotions or behaviour. Includes anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, stress reactions and other problems.

Non-admitted patient - A patient who receives care from a recognised non-admitted patient service/clinic of a hospital.

Non-government Community Service Organisations (NGCSOs) - Organisations, operated on either a for-profit or not-for-profit basis, privately managed to provide community services for family with children, youth, adults, older people, people with disabilities, and people from different ethnic backgrounds.

Non-government Organisations (NGOs) - Private not-for-profit community managed organisations that receive state and territory government funding specifically for the purpose of providing community support services for people affected by a mental illness or psychiatric disability.

Non-repudiation - Sender cannot deny sending a record to the electronic health register or to another person.

Nonsocomial - Pertaining to or originating in a hospital (synonymous with ‘hospital-acquired’)

Nosocomial - Pertaining to or originating in a hospital (synonymous with “hospital-acquired”)

Obsessive-compulsive Disorder - A form of anxiety disorder where repeated and unwanted thoughts and impulses disturb and dominate a person. Often involves rituals such as excessive-hand washing, checking and counting, which in turn cause anxiety if they are prevented or out of control.

Occasion of service - Occurs when a patient receives some form of service from a functional unit of the hospital, but is not admitted.

Top of pageOutcome - The status of an individual, a group of people or a population which is wholly or partially attributable to an action, agent or circumstance

Outcomes - Outcomes are the results, impacts or consequences of actions by the Australian Government on the Australian community. Outcomes are the results or impacts that the Government wishes to achieve. Actual outcomes are the results or impacts actually achieved.

Outcomes (Health) - A health-related change due to a preventive or clinical intervention or service. (The intervention may be single or multiple and the outcome may relate to a person, group or population or be partly or wholly due to the intervention.)

Outputs - The goods or services produced by individual Australian Government agencies on behalf of the Government of the day for external organisations or individuals.

Output groups - The aggregation based on homogeneity of product and/or resource usage of outputs.

Outreach services - where a medical specialist provides specialist medical health services in a location that is not the location of their regular practice

Overweight - Defined as a body mass index 25 and over but less than 30. See also obesity.

P

PA - Principal Advisor

PAAC - People’s Alcohol Action Coalition

PAC - Production Assurance Certification (As a result of our contractual obligations with IBM GSA, this process was put in place to ensure that an application will not impact the infrastructure. It is basic quality control and risk management.)

PACFA - Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia

PACHSNIM - Primary and Community Services National Information Model

PACT - Primary Care Alliance for Clinical Trials

PADWS - Preliminary Assessment of District of Workforce Shortage

PAF - Performance and Accountability Framework

PAGAN - RMI, ARMIS, GAPS, ACCMIS, NAPS

Palliative Care - Palliative care is the specialised care of people with a terminal illness and aims to achieve the best quality of life, both for the person who is dying and their family

Pathology - General term for the study of disease, but often used more specifically diagnostic services which examine specimens, such as samples of blood or tissue.

Pathogen - Disease-causing agent.

Patient-days - The number of full or partial days of stay for patients who were admitted for an episode of care and who underwent separation during the reporting period. A patient who is admitted and separated on the same day is allocated 1 patient-day.

Performance - The proficiency of an agency or authority in acquiring resources economically and using those resources efficiently and effectively in achieving planned outcomes.

Performance indicators - A concise list of indicators, which are used to measure agency effectiveness in achieving the Government’s outcomes.

Performance information - Evidence about performance that is collected and used systemically. Evidence may relate to effectiveness or efficiency. It may be about outcomes, factors that affect outcomes, and what can be done to improve them.

Performance measures - A more precise measure than indicators. Performance measures are used to provide information on administered items and outputs in terms of quality, quantity and efficiency.

PFA - Plasma Fraction Agreement

PFAS Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyl Substances

PFS - Periodical Financial Statement

PGPPP - Prevocational General Practice Placement Program

PGU - Psychogeriatric Unit, or Psychogeriatric Care Unit

PH - Parliament House

PHN - Primary Health Network

PHAA - Public Health Association of Australia Inc.

PHARM - Pharmaceutical Health and Rational use of Medicines

Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) - A national, government-funded scheme that subsidises the cost of a wide range of pharmaceutical drugs, and that covers all Australians to help them afford standard medications.

Phising - Attempts to fraudulently acquire sensitive information such as passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in an apparently official electronic communication such as email.

Phobia - A form of anxiety disorder in which there is persistent, unrealistic fear of an object or situation and which interferes with the person’s life as they seek to avoid the object of their fear. Different phobias include fear of heights, flying, open spaces, social gatherings, animals such as spiders and snakes, etc.

Portfolio Budget Statements - Statements prepared by portfolios to explain the Budget appropriations in terms of planned Government outcomes and outputs.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PSD) - A form of anxiety disorder in which a person has a delayed and prolonged reaction after being in an extremely threatening or catastrophic situation such as a war, natural disaster, terrorist attack, serious accident or witnessing violent deaths.

Potential years of life lost (PYLL) - Number of potential years of life lost in a population as a result of premature death.

PPHC - Private Patients’ Hospital Charter

PPV - positive predictive value

PQON - Parliamentary Question on Notice

PRs - Procedural Rules

PRCC - Parallel Rural Community Curriculum

Prescription drugs - Pharmaceutical drugs available only on the prescription of a registered medical practitioner and available only from pharmacies.

Prevalence - The number or proportion (of cases, instances, etc.) present in a population at a given time. Compare with incidence.

Preventable - Accepted by the community as potentially avoidable in the particular set of circumstances

Top of pagePrice - The amount the Government or the community pays for the delivery of agreed outputs. The total of all prices aggregates to equal total expenses.

Primary Carer - Defined by the ABS as a person of any age who provides the most informal assistance, in terms of help or supervision with one or more disabilities. The assistance has to be ongoing, or likely to be ongoing, for at least 6 months and be provided for one or more of the core activities (communication, mobility or self-care).

Principal Diagnosis - The diagnosis describing the problem that was chiefly responsible for the patient’s episode of care in hospital.

PRISM III - Pediatric Risk of Mortality, version III

Privacy impact assessment - A formal process to identify and assess the impact of processes on personal privacy, including potential risks and compliance.

Private health insurance - Health insurance funds offer benefits to members for approved services provided in both public and private hospitals. They also operate ancillary tables which provide benefits for a wide range of non-hospital health and health-related services. There are a number of categories of health insurance membership which provide a wide range of benefits cover. These include ‘exclusionary tables’ under which funds are able to tailor the range of benefits provided to meet particular needs of different groups of contributors.

Private Hospital - A privately owned and operated institution, catering for patients who are treated by a doctor of their own choice. Patients are charged fees for accommodation and other services provided by the hospital and relevant medical and paramedical practitioners. Includes private freestanding day hospital facilities.

Private Patients - Persons admitted to a private hospital; or persons admitted to a public hospital who decide to choose the doctor(s) who will treat them and to have private ward accommodation. This means they will be charged for medical services, food and accommodation.

Procedural Rules (PRs) - PRs expand on the CEIs and provide more detailed operational requirements. Officials must have regard to the PRs to ensure full accountability and adequate controls are in place.

Program - Program is a specific strategy, initiative or grouping of activities directed towards the achievement of government policy or a common strategic objective.

Program Allowances - Program Allowances are payments made in the nature of a benefit, direct to an individual for the purposes of assisting the individual.

Top of pageProgram Funds - Program Funds are funds appropriated by Parliament to implement the Government's Health and Aged Care programs.

Program Grants - Program Grants are payments under specific legislation and/or an agreement by Health and Aged Care to an individual or organisation for the purposes of assisting in the achievement of the individual's or organisation objectives. Program Grants include General Purpose Grants, Specific Purpose Grants, and Grant-in-aid.

Program Guidelines - Program Guidelines set down the administrative arrangements and specify the control requirements for the management of specific programs.

Program Payments - Program Payments are payments made from program funds and consist of program allowances, program grants and program service payments.

Program Service Payments - Program Service Payments are payments made to a contractor or provider for the provision of health related services.

PROQOLID - Patient-Reported Outcomes and Quality of Life Instruments Database

Psychiatric hospitals - Establishments devoted primarily to the treatment and care of inpatients with psychiatric disorders.

Psychosis - A broad grouping for a more severe degree of mental disturbance, often involving fixed, false beliefs known as delusions.

PTF - Presidential Task Force

Public Health - Term variously referring to the level of health in the population, to actions that improve that level or to related study. Activities that aim to benefit a population tend to emphasis prevention, protection and health promotion as distinct from treatment tailored to individuals with symptoms. Examples include provision of a clean water supply and good sewerage, conduct of anti-smoking education campaigns and screening for diseases such as cancer of the breast and cervix.

Public Hospital - A hospital controlled by a state or territory health authority. In Australia public hospitals offer free diagnostic services, treatment, care and accommodation to all who need it.

Public Moneys - Public Moneys are moneys in the Commonwealth's possession or control, including money that is held in trust and money in a bank account. Categories of public moneys are:

received Money

money in the Consolidated Revenue Fund

money in the Loan Fund

money in the Reserve Money Fund

money in the Commercial Activities Fund

Drawn Money

Special Public Money that is subject to a special instruction

Public Patient - A patient admitted to a public hospital who has agreed to be treated by doctors of the hospital’s choice and to accept shared ward accommodation. This means the patient is not charged.

Quality - Relates to the characteristics by which clients or stakeholders judge an organisation, product or service. Assessment of quality involves use of information gathered from interested parties to identify difference between users' expectations and experiences.

Quantity - Size of an output. Count or volume measures. How many or how much.

Real expenditure - Expenditure expressed in terms which have been adjusted for inflation. This enables comparisons to be made between expenditures in different years.

Reconnect - Commonwealth Dept. of Family and Community Services early intervention services for homeless young people 12-18.

Recurrent expenditure -Expenditure on goods and services which are used up during the year, for example, salaries. It may be contrasted with capital expenditure, such as expenditure on hospital buildings and large-scale diagnostic equipment, the useful life of which extends over a number of years.

RED - Research, Evaluation and Development

Remote - The term ‘Remote’ is used to indicate those Australians living in areas that lie within either the ‘Very Remote Australia’ or ‘Remote Australia’ categories of the Australian Standard Geographical Classification Remoteness structure

Risk - The chance of something happening that will have a negative impact. It is measured in terms of consequences and likelihood

Risk Factor - Any factor which represents a greater risk of a health disorder or other unwanted condition or event. Some risk factors are regarded as causes of disease, others are not necessarily so.

Risk Management (in health care) - Designing and implementing a program of activities to identify and avoid or minimise risks to patients, employees, visitors and the institution; to minimise financial losses (including legal liability) that might arise consequentially; and to transfer risk to others through payment of premiums (insurance)

Rural - Rural localities and towns with a total population of under 1,000 people. ‘Rural’ also forms part of the Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Areas Classification (RRMA). RRMA has been used to classify the geographic location of medical practitioners. In the classification, ‘rural’ zone includes small rural centres (urban centre population between 10,000 and 24,999), large rural centres (urban centre population between 25,000 and 99,000), and other rural centres (urban centre population less than 10,000), with each having an index of remoteness less than 10.5.

Sign (clinical) - An indication of a disorder that is detected by a clinician or other observer who examines the person affected. Unlike with symptoms, a patient does not necessarily notice or complain of a sign and many signs are detected only with special techniques used by the person doing the examination.

SIGNAL - Strategic Inter-Governmental Nutrition Alliance

SIIP - Safety Innovations In Practice Program

SIMC - Statistical Information Management Committee

SIME - Strategic Information Management Environment

SIN - Sindbis

SIP - Service incentive payment

SIS - Seniors Information Service

SLA - Service Level Agreement

SLA - Statistical Local Area

SLK - Statistical Linkage Key

SLO - Supervisor liaison officer

SLTEC - Shiga-like toxigenic Escherichia coli

SMAG - Substance Misuse Action Group - Alice Springs, sub-committee of the Quality of Life Project

SMECQ - SPARC, MERLIN, EC, CACP, QARMS

SMR - Standardised mortality ratio

SMT - Self Managing Team

SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SMU - Single Machine Unit

SNAICC - Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Childcare Centres

Underlying cause of death - The disease or injury which initiated the morbid train of events leading directly to death. Accidental and violent deaths are classified to the external cause, that is, to the circumstance of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury rather than to the nature of the injury.

Underweight - Defined as a body mass index less than 18.5.

Unemployed Person - Person aged 15 years or more who was not employed during the reference week but who had actively looked for work or was currently available for work.